Case study

Cisco public

The customer
summary
Customer name
Cisco

Industry
Technology

Location
New York City

Reinventing the Workplace

Cisco and its partners showcase innovation and sustainability
at PENN 1 Plaza in New York City
© 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
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Reimagining real estate

“PENN 1 represents the
The global pandemic forever altered the
dynamics between companies, their workers,
intersection of people,
and their workspaces. And with countless space, and technology
Challenges organizations trying to determine how to best
• Attracting and retaining talent utilize their real estate and support their employees in a post-pandemic
• Advancing net-zero sustainability goals
moving forward, Cisco is demonstrating what’s
possible with the newly renovated, completely
world. It’s a model for
• Digitizing real estate portfolio to provide
actionable data and insights
reimagined PENN 1 Plaza in New York City. the future that is being
“People are the most important and valuable
resource for every organization. Despite the used by our employees,
widespread shift to remote and hybrid work, real
estate still plays an essential role in company
customers, and
culture and employee satisfaction and well-being,” partners today.”
says Brian McCourt, smart building consultant
at Cisco. “PENN 1 represents the intersection
Solutions of people, space, and technology in a post- Brian McCourt
• Smart building network with Power pandemic world. It’s a model for the future that Smart Building Consultant,
over Ethernet (PoE) and fully integrated is being used by our employees, customers, and Cisco
subsystems, sensors, and controls partners today.”

Smart building designs and systems aren’t new,

of course, but few have been so comprehensively
conceived, integrated, and realized.

“The average building has 30 to 36 discrete

subsystems, and some of them may drive greater
Results levels of comfort, usability, and sustainability,”
McCourt says. “But a building isn’t truly ‘smart’
• Created a smart building with innovative, until those discrete systems are stitched together
fully interconnected subsystems and all working in harmony. Data is the new utility.”
• Leveraged automation and PoE to
reduce power consumption and costs PENN 1, a 42,000-square-foot Midtown
by an estimated 50 percent or more Manhattan building constructed in the 1970s,
was never designed to be smart or data driven.
• Dramatically improved workplace But with a foundational network featuring Cisco
comfort, flexibility, and sustainability Catalyst® 9000 switches and access points, PoE
© 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
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technology that provides data connectivity and electrical power for the
building’s subsystems, and a single interface——Cisco Spaces——for integrating
and visualizing the data from those systems, PENN 1 is showcasing new
levels of innovation, flexibility, and sustainability.

“You can’t measure and optimize outcomes like air quality, thermal comfort,
and natural daylight without data and coordination from many systems and
endpoints,” McCourt says. “Cisco Spaces aggregates and visualizes all of
this data, not only from Cisco solutions like Webex and Meraki smart
cameras, but also third-party solutions from partners like Mecho, Igor,
and Molex.”

Intelligent, automated systems

Mecho has been at the forefront of the commercial window shade industry
for more than 50 years. The company’s founder invented the manual
window shade and later designed a revolutionary, software-controlled
system that reduced the reliance on electrical lighting by maximizing the
use of daylight.

Today, Mecho’s cutting-edge window coverings are fully automated and

powered by PoE, using real-time data from building sensors and weather
tracking systems to continually optimize each environment for thermal and
visual comfort.
“The building’s occupants are the
“The shade system in PENN 1 monitors sky conditions on a minute-to-
most important factor. Maximizing
minute basis, and the position of the shades are automatically adjusted natural daylight without impacting
based on cloud cover and solar intensity,” says David Robinson, director
of automation at Mecho. thermal comfort helps increase
Mecho’s automated shade system features eco-friendly fabric and quiet,
productivity and well-being.”
low-voltage motors. It reduces HVAC and lighting system use, power
consumption, and cost. And because it’s connected to PoE and driven by David Robinson
APIs, it helps minimize PENN 1’s cabling, complexity, and carbon footprint.
Director of Automation,
“The building’s occupants are the most important factor,” Robinson says. Mecho
“Maximizing natural daylight without impacting thermal comfort helps
increase productivity and well-being.”

© 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

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PoE-based control “Most spaces overuse things like light,” Stewart says. “At PENN 1, we can
fine-tune the lighting based on context——whether it’s a group meeting,
Igor’s flagship product, Nexos, is a PoE-based IoT smart building video conference, or presentation——to deliver powerful outcomes.”
platform that provides a bridge between operational technology (OT) and
information technology (IT). It enables macro control of an entire building as In addition to improving comfort and productivity, software-defined
well as micro control of the spaces and devices within it. automation can cut lighting consumption and costs by 50 percent or more,
he adds, delivering near-immediate ROI.
“It creates a nano grid where every sensor, device, and endpoint is
addressable,” says Dwight Stewart, founder and CEO of Igor. “With so many technologies and endpoints in a building like PENN 1,
you really need an enterprise-class network to bring it all together,”
At PENN 1, Nexos uses predetermined thresholds, real-time data, and Stewart says. “Cisco is the only option, in my opinion, for deploying these
coordination with Mecho and other systems to control the lighting in systems at scale. Other network solutions lack sophistication, visibility,
conference and meeting rooms. It connects touchscreens and voice and orchestration.”
responsive consoles in each room with Webex® by Cisco and Cisco
Spaces. And it uses sensors to monitor decibel volume and air quality.

“With so many technologies and

endpoints in a building like PENN 1,
you really need an enterprise-
class network to bring it all together.
Cisco is the only option, in my
opinion, for deploying these systems
at scale. Other network solutions
lack sophistication, visibility,
and orchestration.”
Dwight Stewart
Founder and CEO,
Igor

© 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

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“Integration across Aggregated, actionable data visualize subsystem data and manage those
subsystems collectively instead of individually.
control systems and Molex is a leading supplier of electronics,
electrical and fiber optic connectivity solutions, “Integration across control systems and a
a distributed sensor and IoT applications. Its CoreSync smart building distributed sensor network leads to more
platform leverages the Cisco network backbone meaningful data that can be acted upon,” says
network leads to more and PoE to optimize PENN 1’s subsystems and Giovanni Frezza, director of digital enterprise and

meaningful data that environmental conditions. In addition to controlling

and automating the lighting in the building’s
IoT solutions at Molex. “And with individually
addressable devices, there are a ton of
can be acted upon, common areas and workspaces, CoreSync
provides an emergency lighting system that
possibilities and use cases.”

and with individually removes the need for separate emergency lights Those use cases extend well beyond increased
automation, improved comfort, and reduced
addressable devices, and local battery backups. It also delivers a
granular sensory network that monitors air quality, energy consumption, he adds. Occupancy data

there are a ton of temperature, humidity, space utilization, and more.

CoreSync and its connected devices are natively
can be used to refine janitorial processes, for
example, to reduce cleaning disruptions and costs.
possibilities and integrated with Cisco Spaces to aggregate and

use cases.”
Giovanni Frezza
Director of Digital Enterprise
and IoT Solutions,
Molex

© 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Case study
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“PENN 1 shows how multiple solutions and

partners can come together to create a truly
“PENN 1 shows how
intelligent, sustainable, and modernized work
environment,” Frezza says. “As you walk into the
multiple solutions and Product links
lobby of the building, it’s like stepping from the partners can come
• Cisco Spaces
past into the future.”
together to create • Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches,
“PENN 1 is the first of several hybrid workplaces
we’re creating with our partners,” McCourt adds.
a truly intelligent, access points, and PoE technology
“All of them will help us achieve our long-range
goal of net-zero sustainability and our
sustainable, and • Webex by Cisco
immediate goals of attracting top talent, helping modernized work • Cisco Meraki™ smart cameras
ensure employee well-being, and providing
flexible ways to work.” environment.”
Giovanni Frezza
Additional resources
Director of Digital Enterprise • PENN 1 Plaza virtual tour
and IoT Solutions, Molex
• Podcast: The Making of Cisco’s
PENN 1 Plaza
• Cisco Smart Building Solutions

© 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other
countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)